Music, Everywhere in Sunset Park

oh my goodness – such misinformation. The music is not blasting. You can hardly hear it. If a bus goes by you definitely don’t hear it at all. And you don’t hear it on side streets.

this was a personal hatchet job by WNYC. An employee of WNYC who lives in SP tricked the BID into what amounts to a “drive by shooting”. The director got a call from WNYC asking her to be interviewed in 30 minutes. She wasn’t told that it was a call-in show and she definitely wasn’t told that it was going to be a negative attack.

is the music tinny? no. is it, in the house, state of the art stereo quality – no. but it is pleasant and delightful. It is not intrusive. the BID has received dozens of positive comments. One was “I was walking along 5th and heard music. it got lower and ended. then i began to hear it lightly again. i looked up and realized i was being “followed” – I loved it. thank you so much for enhancing the holiday.”

last year two complaints were received during the brief trial period. In the first case, the speaker was moved to another pole. In the other case, the speaker was turned away from the building. This year there was one complaint (against about 40 positive praises) and in response the music was lowered in that location. The BID doesn’t run ads with the music – and most people don’t even know who is providing it.

i feel bad that brownstoner reported WNYC’s attack on the music by saying “blast”. You need to be more supportive of a true grassroots attempt to give back to the community. The BID is doing this as a “gift” to the community. Just like last week’s tree lighting where 400 kids had pictures taken for free with santa (the cost was well over $1,200). The pictures and the children singing christmas songs in english, chinese and spanish was a true grassroots effort. A delightful gift to the community. (I’m sure some people were annoyed by that ceremony…but they didn’t get WNYC’s ear or brownstoner’s echo support in the attack)

The bid is also paying more than 5% of its meager annual budget to place a private security team on the avenue during the 6 week holiday season. This is an attempt to increase public safety.

I guess you already know the bid spends nearly 50% of its budget on a sanitation crew that bags overflow trash from the corner pails. And that during infrequent snowstorms the BID has the fire hydrants cleared and corners shoveled.

The BID has done so much to rescue Sunset Park’s Main Street. I guess I have a thin skin when it comes to cheap shots. Brownstoner has helped WNYC to magnify the complaint of one person (she identified herself as Suzie and then filed a second complaint on the show with the phonetically identical Souixie). Please be more careful, either you’re being had, or you are enjoying “red dogging” the BID.

When the BID was formed – nearly half of 5th Avenue stores were vacant. Property owners were bricking up windows and turning stores into residential apartments. The BID is acknowledged with helping to turn 5th Avenue around. While Lutheran Hospital is the single biggest employer in Sunset, the 5th Avenue stores, if taken collectively, are an even bigger employer of local residents. 5th Avenue may be rightfully called the economic engine of Sunset Park.

I have often said, 5th Avenue is the backbone or maybe the heart of Sunset Park. If it goes, so does the neighborhood that surrounds it. When my girlfriend moved in with me in Sunset Park (she’s now my wife), every Saturday we would window shop on 5th and catch up with friends and local gossip.

A little Christmas music for a couple of weeks is hardly a reason to be so negative. bah humbug on brownstoner – oh, wait, maybe you’ve become elitest, ahhh, maybe that is why you were so quick to jump on the band wagon.

Well, I know that brownstoner and friends complain about anything and everything, but getting upset about holiday music? Plug your ears and get some anti-depressants.

totally irrelevant, but i just wanted to say thank you lisa for always having posts ready in the early AM when i get to work that for some reason or another cheer me up. 🙂

*rob*